Arrrr....

My pirate name is:

Captain Mary Bonney

Even though there's no legal rank on a pirate ship, everyone recognizes you're the one in charge. You can be a little bit unpredictable, but a pirate's life is far from full of certainties, so that fits in pretty well. Arr!

Get your own pirate name from piratequiz.com.
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Need me say more, me hardies?

One can never have enough...

1. YARN
2.Cookies
3.Friends
4.Cookies
5.Coffee
6.YARN!!!!

If you agree with the above statements, you may have a serious problem. If you are able to admit that you have a problem, you have just taken your first step towards recovery. If you are able to admit that you can never have enough yarn, and could give a DAMN about recovery, then go visit Scout, buy some of her yarn and join the anti-stash along. As human beings, I believe that is completely within our rights to amass as many material things as we would like. That is why I believe God created someone who created my personal golden idol:Mastercard.
Mastercard and I are completely within our rights to purchase, say sock yarn to sniff, cuddle hold and yes, occasionally knit into socks or other fuzzy items. We have good times together, Mastercard and I. And then when Payday rolls around every other week, I pay my tithes to the oh holy one (gotta get it in before the grace period expires!) so that I may once again, from the privacy of my inner sanctum, purchase more yarn. Or exercise DVD's that I will never use. Or camping gear. Or even cookie cookbooks. So leave me alone about how big my stash is, because I could care less.

What to do with my swap yarn...

Immediately after receiving my swap yarn, I was faced with the question that has no doubt plagued knitters since the dawn of time, "what do I make?" The obvious answer, to me, would be socks. Ever since I knit that first pair of socks using the Magic Loop method of knitting 2 socks at once, I have been hooked. I mean HOOKED. Has anyone ever seen the King of the Hill episode where Hank mistakenly buys crack cocaine as bait for fishing and the fish become totally hooked and pretty soon he ends up in drug court trying to convince the judge that he was using crack as a fishing bait? I am as hooked on socks as those fish on crack. So hooked that I purchased 16 skeins of sock yarn in order to knit each and every member of my immediate family a pair of socks for Christmas (you all better not read this part). I digress.
Socks are the order of the day, and I have indeed started a pair with my swap yarn.
Pattern: Conwy from Knitting on the Road by Nancy Bush. (now would be the perfect time to post a picture but the batteries in my camera just died. Sigh.)
Last night I managed to cast on and knit the ribbing plus about 1 1/2 " of the leg pattern. Never mind that I have exactly one self-striping sock and one Raspberry Limeade Jaywalker (2nd sock syndrome, anyone?). Oh well, time to go cook up my fix.

I got my ya-arn, nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah nyah!

My Dye-O-Rama swap yarn came in the mail yesterday, Yay!!!! It is the most beautiful tropical hot orange and pinky-peach and is exactly what I would have wanted. So, Nettie-thanks for the bestest ever sock yarn and awesome tropical Kool-aid packets! I have never even seen a Jamaica flavor before, but am I excited to bust it out and try the colors for myself!!!
Now, I have to get on the ball and send out my yarn to my own swap friend, especially since she lives in another country, yikes!

Yarn ahoy!

So...I finally have a finished skein of yarn that I kinda LIKE for my swap buddy. I know that she likes vivid colors, so the pastels were definitely a no-go. I've always been inspired by the beautiful tie-dyes that can be found so easily around here in Humboldt, so I was trying to paint my yarn along those lines. Here are some pics...tell me what you think!

Yarn ahoy!

Dye-o-meme-a-rama!!! Finally!!!

OK, so here it is, finally, a week after I promised to post it...The meme from dye-o-rama!!!1
Your favorite colors? anything hot...Spicy reds, oranges, gold's or cool blue, green, purple
Preferred yarn weight (Fingering, Sport, DK, maybe even Worsted)? fingering for socks, natch!
Do you prefer solid or multicolored yarn? multi all the way
If your buddy is able to do so, would you like a variegated, self-striping, or self-patterning yarn? anything is fine
Would you be interested in a wool blend sock yarn (nylon, tencel, silk, acrylic, alpaca, etc.)? no preference
Imagine the perfect colorway. What would you name it? hot tamales or cool water
What was the biggest appeal to you for joining this dye-along? swapping and the mystery....
General yarn/fiber questions:
Have you dyed yarn/fiber before? yes, barely
If so, what’s your favorite dye and method? koolaid/wilton's on the stovetop
Do you spin?not yet...
Have you knit socks before?yes
Do you use sock yarn for just socks or in other patterns too? ususally just for socks
What are some of your favorite yarns? lorna's laces and anything cashmere
What yarn do you totally covet? malabrigo
Favorite patterns? jaywalker socks
Any pattern you would love to make if money and time were no object? wraparound cashmere sweater for fat girls
Favorite kind of needles (brand, materials, straights or circs, etc)? addi turbo circulars
If you were a specific kind of yarn, which brand and kind of yarn would you be?malabrigo merino in a spicy hot colorway
Nothing to do with knitting/yarn/fiber in any way but seemed kinda fun:
Do you have a favorite candy or mail-able snack? anything sugar-free
What’s your favorite animal? monkeys or sea turtles
Do you have pets? does my son count?
What are their species/names/ages?
If you were a color what color would you be? hot pink
Describe your favorite shirt (yours or someone else’s)..olive green tee with vintage tattoo design of an eagle holding a rose
What is your most inspiring image, flower, or object in nature? koi
Tell me the best quote you’ve ever heard or read. uhhh...pass
Do you have a wishlist? not usually, I am an instant gratification type-see it, want it, get it!!
Anything else you’d like to share with the group today?
I'm psyched and ready to dye!!!

Dye-Rama swappiness!

I finally heard from my swap buddies today!! I had been anxiously checking my emails for the past week, and each time I would feel this awesome sense of rejection when I didn't have a note from either of my buddies. I know, so sad. But today was like Christmas and my birthday all in one! I have touched base with both of my buddies and I feel good! Now I can actually get into dying mode and get started. I have already knitted up one of the self-striping socks from my test skein, and it looks pretty good. I had a little trial and error with the Wilton's food coloring and the dyes breaking and making a little bit of variegation, but I am overall very pleased with my first attempts. If you check out my flickr photos on the right you can get some good views of the first sock. Not bad, eh?
I have been doing some furious Mother's Day knitting for the last 2 days. I decided to (and check my insanity level here) knit my mom a pair of socks from my beautiful stash of Regia Canadian color. I picked the blue/green/yellow colorway since she looks awesome in those pastels. When I split the yarn in order to cast on both socks at once, I decided to not line up the stripes so that the socks would match, but not be carbon copies. So far, they are turning out nicely.
I am also working on a winter hat for my Bitch's little boy and a shrug for my Bitch. They are coming over from Redding this weekend, so I have quite a bit of knitting on my plate to get done by Saturday. Yes, I love a challenge and driving myself insane with too much to do. It shouldn't be too hard: the shrug is Glampyre's One Skein Wonder and the hat an intarsia star hat with a topknot that I made up from 2 or 3 different patterns. Let the countdown begin:only 3 days to get all of the knitting done! Wish me luck...